Improving e-communications with members

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The issue

Macquarie 2100 covers a large area across Narromine and Warren Shires in central-western New South Wales. Over the years the Landcare group has been using Outlook for email based communications. It was identified by the committee and members that the communications needed to be more user friendly for our members. The Outlook database had also become administratively cumbersome to manage.

The solution

One of the first tasks for the Local Landcare Coordinator was to set-up and manage MailChimp. MailChimp is a free online web-based email marketing service that allows the design and sending of newsletters and other online notifications that can be performance tracked. The process initially required downloading all outlook email addresses into Excel spreadsheet for initial review and updating by the committee. The Coordinator then added over 300 email addressed to a subscriber list on MailChimp as well as create a template for monthly E-Newsletters that was eye-catching.

The impact

So far, over seven monthly E-newsletters have been sent using MailChimp. This has shown us that overall open rates have been relatively steady overtime. This has given us confidence that members are receiving our newsletter as well as actively reading it. The real-time data has also provided click rates which has allowed us to see what segments within our newsletter members are most interested in as they click on additional links for more information. Overall the online platform this has allowed Macquarie 2100 to more easily communicate to its members and the general community.

Learnings

There were a number of difficulties in initially setting up MailChimp which were overcome after the first newsletter attempt. After initial difficulties, using MailChimp has been relatively straightforward to use whilst providing valuable information about campaign performance. For instance sending E-newsletters and notifications in the middle of day or early evening appears to track immediate high open rates.

Key facts

Delivering timely and relevant and eye-catching information to members through E-newsletters